Fall of Byzantine Empire

29 May 1453, Constantinople

Founded in 324 CE, the city of Constantinople was the heart of the Byzantine Empire for over 1,000 years. However in 1453 Mehmed

II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, invaded and ransacked the city. While Christianity was allowed to survive under the guidance Gennadios II, the effect on the religion was vast. Aeneas Sylvius wrote to Pope Nicholas V and proclaimed that: “Your Holiness did what you could. No blame can be justly attached to you. But the ignorance of posterity will blame you when it hears that in your time Constantinople was lost.” The destruction of the city signalled the end of the Eastern Roman Empire and symbolised the change between the ancient and medieval periods.